The Man Behind the Curtain
by Emily92
Summary: When certain things come to night about Minerva's longtime fiance, Albus is there to support her. AD/MM. TR/MM. Written for LiveJournal's 10 quotes.


**Author's Notes:** Written for 10_quotes at Livejournal. The prompt was the quote posted below.

**Disclaimer: **Nothing mentioned belongs to me.

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"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

- _The Wizard of Oz_

Albus Dumbledore sat in his living room, completely engrossed the book he was reading. The book was titled _The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe_ and had been recommended to him by the muggle studies teacher at Hogwarts. It was late at night and rather dark outside. Suddenly, there came rapid series of knocks on his front door. Albus put his book down and stood up, wondering who would be calling this late. He opened the door and came face to face with a worried looking Minerva McGonagall.

"Minerva," he said quickly, "come in before you freeze to death."

Minerva stepped into his house, "I'm sorry to come this late."

"It's fine. I was up, reading."

"Albus," she said, "It's Tom."

"What happened?" he asked his co-worker. Tom Riddle was Minerva's fiancé. It was a relationship that had worried Albus ever since its beginnings when the two had been students at Hogwarts. Albus knew that Riddle was capable of and worried that he would harm Minerva. Besides that, she deserved better than him. He had yet to tell her this, though; he didn't think it was his place to interfere in her love life.

"He's gone. He just packed up and left - no note, nothing! He took the key to our vault at Gringotts, everything of value in the house."

"Minerva, I'm -"

"And it's not only that. He'd been acting so secretively for the past few months. Coming in late, refusing to tell me where he's been. I found this, Albus," she handed him a piece of paper.

Albus read the note, written in Tom's fancy script. It seemed to be an idea - a plan, even - of how to take another wizard's life. He had written out a plan to kill someone, and the method of death was such that would cause the victim excruciating pain. Albus cursed himself for not interfering and putting a stop to their relationship - she had been living with a heartless monster. As a friend, how could he have allowed that?

"Albus," Minerva interrupted his thoughts, "Look at it. What he describes - it's exactly how Lily Goldstein was killed last week."

Albus reread the note and realized that she was correct; the two were exactly the same, down to the smallest details. It was clear that Riddle had been Lily's killer.

"Why didn't I see this, Albus? I could have stopped it."

"Minerva," he replied firmly, "You cannot blame yourself for his actions."

"We were together for so long," she was clearly distraught, "I should have seen it. How could I have been blind to this?"

"Riddle is…he's very skilled at keeping secrets."

"Clearly," Minerva replied sharply, her temper getting the best of her. However, she immediately regretted her harsh tone, "I'm sorry Albus."

"It is already forgotten, Minerva."

"He's gone off to do something absolutely terrible," she said worriedly, put her head in her hands.

"Which is tragic, but not something you could done anything to prevent."

"Do you know what makes me feel horrible, Albus? He killed Lily in cold blood, and he stole most of what I had before he left. I thought I knew him. I never would have imagined that he would…"

"Minerva, I can understand that. You two were, after all, together for quite awhile. You thought you knew him. When you love someone, it is often difficult to see his faults."

"I thought I loved him, but obviously I did not know him. He's proved himself to be full of nasty surprises."

"Riddle is a mystery," Albus said.

"Indeed," she nodded. She yawned, looking absolutely exhausted.

"Stay here tonight, Minerva. You need to sleep."

"Albus, I couldn't."

He smiled, "Of course you can. My spare bedroom hasn't had any visitors for quite some time now."

"Oh, alright. Albus, thank you."

"You're welcome. Really, it's no trouble at all."

They stood up, and he lead her to his spare room.

"Sleep well," he told her.

"Goodnight," she replied.

She was asleep as soon as her head came in contact with the pillow. Albus closed the door softly behind him, careful not to wake her.

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, Minerva," he whispered, "There are people who love you more."


End file.
